Brad Stewart has new job: holder

Before Saturday, Georgia Tech wide receiver Brad Stewart had never served as a holder on placekicks. Now, it may be that he’ll be on the job for the rest of the season.

“I’m going to help the team out however I can and if the coaches think I need to be holding, then I will,” Stewart said Monday.

Stewart held for kicker Brenton King on four extra-point tries (all successful) and King’s 50-yard attempt (wide right) at the end of the first half of Tech’s 41-0 win over Alcorn State. King replaced Shawn Davis, whose holder is punter Pressley Harvin, after Davis missed a point-after try. After the game, coach Paul Johnson said that King will handle field goals and extra points going forward.

“I feel like I did decent,” said Stewart, who also caught a career-high four passes in the opener. “It was my first game holding, so I had a few bumps and bruises here and there, but I think for the most part, we were on the same page and I think we’re going to continue to improve.

Kickers select holders based on comfort level. King’s holder last year was quarterback Lucas Johnson, but he is out for the season after a lower-leg injury suffered in the preseason. Stewart said he had practiced it in previous seasons but never seriously.

“(The kickers) all work with a bunch of different guys and they kind of hone in on one or another,” Stewart said. “Me and BK had a good relationship in the offseason and just kind of getting real close and really being on the same page and being comfortable with each other.”

It was also the first game for redshirt freshman snapper Jack Coco, who worked on the short snaps for kicks while grad transfer Zach Roberts did the snapping on punts.